Comparison

FindPenguins vs Polarsteps

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

FindPenguins

This app helps travelers plan, track, and journal their journeys. Automatically record your route, create detailed travel profiles with photos and stories, and generate stunning flyover videos of your adventures. Share your experiences with friends and family or get inspired by millions of other travelers.

Highlights
  • Automatic travel route tracking
  • Offline tracking capability
  • Trip planning and itinerary management
  • Create travel profiles with photos and stories
  • Generate 3D flyover videos
  • Share trips with friends and family
  • Inspiration from millions of travel experiences
Features
Read full description

Millions of travelers trust FindPenguins, the first travel app of its kind. Plan, track, and share your trip – all in one. Instantly transform your journey into flyover videos vividly visualizing your travel route. Build your own unique travel profile by adding your places, photos, and stories – capturing memories that last a lifetime. And with just a wink, turn these memories into a carefully-designed hardcover travel book. Activate our Travel Tracker to automatically record your travel route – battery-friendly and offline, with your phone in your pocket. Write posts about the places you visit, and let FindPenguins take care of the rest. PLAN YOUR TRIP Assemble your itinerary, upload essential travel documents, and have everything at your fingertips. Explore itineraries from fellow travelers to inspire your bucket list and effortlessly plan your next adventure. With access to an archive of over 10 million travel experiences, you can see places as they truly are. TRACK WITH EASE Automatically track and log your path on an interactive world map. Have complete control over your privacy, with the option to share your live location with a time delay. Add photos, videos, and travel stories, whether solo or alongside fellow travelers. Create an archive of your travel memories that lets you relive your journeys anytime, anywhere. SHARING BRINGS JOY Generate exciting 3D flyover videos of your recorded route — free and in seconds. Share your trip with family and friends in a fun, inviting way. Follow other travelers, stay connected with your loved ones, or find inspiration for future adventures. WHAT ELSE? “FindPenguins is the perfect network for travelers.” — Lonely Planet Traveller “We are committed to creating the most beautiful travel diary app on the market. Design, usability, and honesty are at the heart of everything we do.” — Tobias, CEO “In 2013, FindPenguins pioneered modern travel tracking apps and has prioritized development over marketing ever since.” — Inside-Fact TELL US HOW WE’RE DOING Leave us a review if you’re enjoying your FindPenguins app experience or head over to our help page for further assistance: support.findpenguins.com

About

Polarsteps

This travel app helps you plan, track, and share your journeys. Create custom itineraries, automatically record your routes, and turn your adventures into beautiful photo books. Keep friends and family updated on your travels in real-time.

Highlights
  • AI itinerary planner
  • Automatic route tracking
  • Photo and video capture
  • Trip sharing with friends and family
  • Printable travel books
  • Destination snapshots
  • Travel statistics
Features
Currently charting
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Join 23M+ travelers using Polarsteps as their all-in-one travel app. Build unique itineraries with the travel planner, let the travel tracker record your route, share the journey with friends and family, and turn it into a photo book to relive later. Whether it's a six-month trip or a weekend canoeing close to home, Polarsteps is here to capture and share your journey as it unfolds. Awards ■ Top 26 Apps — Apple App Store (2026) ■ Top 3 Travel Apps — Apple App Store (2026) ■ App of the Day — Apple App Store (2025) PLAN ■ AI itinerary planner: Create a personalized adventure based on past trips or current goals. ■ Destination snapshots: Get a quick overview of each place, why it fits your travel style, and which friends have already been there. ■ Trip details: Add notes, accommodation details, and must-see spots and activities. ■ Transport planner: Choose how you'll get from A to B for every leg of the trip. ■ Inspiration: Follow other explorers, see where they went, and get ideas for your own trips. TRACK ■ Automatic route tracking: Accurately track the route you took on a beautiful digital world map. ■ Travel Buddies: Invite friends to track trips together. ■ Capture the adventure: Add photos, videos, and stories to each step to bring your journey to life. ■ Travel stats: See how much of the world you’ve traveled, with your total of countries visited, distances covered, and more. ■ Top spots: Add your favorite places and activities so they’re part of your story. ■ Transport mode: Select how you got from place to place, whether by plane, train, or even tuk tuk. SHARE ■ Trip updates: Share your journey so friends and family can follow along from anywhere, seeing where you are and what you’ve been up to. ■ Traveler tips: Leave suggestions for other travelers on what to see and do. ■ Privacy controls: Decide who sees your adventures: everyone, followers only, or you only. RELIVE ■ Digital memories: Scroll through the places, photos, stories, and stats you’ve captured across all your trips. ■ Trip Reels: With the press of a button, transform your trip into a memorable video (also perfect to share on socials). ■ Travel Books: Turn your trip into a beautifully printed Travel Book that showcases your route and memories. WHAT OUR USERS SAY: “Love this app! It tracks me on my vacation and provides real-time notifications to friends and family of my trip. At the end, I ordered a Travel Book of my photos which is very high quality.” “The Polarsteps app is great. I am totally addicted. It is so nice to keep up with all your travels. And friends and family can follow you wherever you go. The Travel Book, which you can order afterwards, is of very good quality.” “I’ve been using this app for years now. It’s always been good and it keeps getting better.” WHAT THE PRESS ARE SAYING ABOUT POLARSTEPS “The Polarsteps app replaces your travel journal, making it easier and more beautiful.” - National Geographic “Polarsteps helps you track and share your journeys in an easy and visually appealing way” - The Next Web “Polarsteps’ resulting travel log is impressive, and is the source of a severe case of itchy feet in your correspondent.” - TechCrunch

Screenshots

FindPenguins4 screens
Polarsteps4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FindPenguins at none against Polarsteps's 3. Polarsteps's advantage is chart position (#70 vs unranked) and ratings volume (10K vs 2.1K). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Polarsteps sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. FindPenguins asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for FindPenguins against 4.9 for Polarsteps. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2.1K and 10K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of FindPenguins's written reviews are positive against 90% of Polarsteps's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
FindPenguins versus Polarsteps: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFindPenguinsPolarsteps
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (2.1K ratings)4.9 (10K ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.7% of reviews89.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2.1K10K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#70 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB218 MB
Age rating12++17
DeveloperTobias RiedlePolarsteps B.V.

Customer experience

FindPenguins

All ratings2,050 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews530 reviews
Positive87.7%
Neutral5.5%
Negative6.8%

Polarsteps

All ratings10,148 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral0.8%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews2,359 reviews
Positive89.9%
Neutral3.9%
Negative6.2%

User reviews

FindPenguins

From 2.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Intuitive interface
  • 📍 Excellent tracking and mapping
  • 🤳 Convenient for sharing with friends/family
  • 📚 Ability to create travel books

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Navigation and settings can be confusing
  • 📸 Limited photo/video uploads per post
  • 🔌 Potential battery drain issues
  • 🔒 Difficulty with privacy and access settings
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes

Polarsteps

From 10K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Excellent app for travel blogging
  • 👍 Easy to use and share with family/friends
  • 🗺️ Great GPS tracking and map features
  • 📷 Seamless photo/video integration
  • 📚 Ability to create high-quality travel books

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔄 Difficulty editing/rearranging photos and steps
  • 🔋 Can be battery-intensive
  • 🗺️ Inaccurate GPS tracking in some cases
  • 🤖 Struggles with importing past trips and photos

Bugs and requests

FindPenguins

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Footprints not appearing in correct order
  • Photos uploading upside down or not at all
  • App crashing when editing or adding content
  • Inconsistent location tracking and mapping

Requested features

5 requests
  • Increase photo/video upload limits
  • Add more privacy and access control options
  • Improve chronological ordering of posts
  • Integrate with more social platforms
  • Allow importing photos from external sources

Polarsteps

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Trouble uploading videos
  • Incorrect time zone and location tracking
  • Steps and photos randomly disappearing
  • Crashes and freezes during usage

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to collaborate on trips with others
  • Option to customize page layouts for travel books
  • Improved video support and integration
  • More flexible map and route editing tools
  • Synchronization across multiple devices

In-app purchases

None

FindPenguins

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Polarsteps

Subscriptions3
  • Plus Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Plus Yearly$34.991 Year
  • Plus Yearly$44.991 Year

Questions

Is FindPenguins free?
FindPenguins is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Polarsteps free?
Polarsteps is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FindPenguins or Polarsteps?
Polarsteps is rated higher. FindPenguins averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2.1K ratings, while Polarsteps averages 4.9 from 10K ratings.
Do FindPenguins or Polarsteps have ads?
Neither FindPenguins nor Polarsteps shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FindPenguins or Polarsteps?
FindPenguins ships an update every 4 days, and Polarsteps every 4 days. Most recently, FindPenguins was updated on November 11, 2026 and Polarsteps on November 12, 2026.

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